WHAS Crusade for Children
The Crusade was begun in 1954, in large part through the efforts of Barry Bingham Sr., the patriarch of the family that owned the stations and The Courier-Journal newspaper together.
For months before the telethon broadcast each June, grass-roots collection efforts are held throughout the area—from "pickle jars" at restaurants, to bingo games, to benefit concerts and hundreds of similar events.
In 2020, the Crusade was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic to August 8–9, with most of the broadcast done in large or outdoor venues to facilitate social distancing.
On a Saturday or Sunday in late spring, it's not uncommon for someone driving across metro Louisville to encounter multiple road blocks manned by volunteers.
During the telethon, each fire department brings in those donations, dumping them out of the boots and into "fishbowls" (aquarium-like containers) before the cameras.
In the past, the fire departments brought the collections directly to the television studio, parading their trucks down the street outside with sirens blaring.
The increase in fire department donations forced the Crusade to broadcast a pre-telethon show, featuring the departmental reports and remotes from across the area.
The trophy is named for Jim Walton, a WHAS-TV personality who was the Crusade's master of ceremonies for 26 years and was its first executive director.
Other past guests have included magicians Lance Burton and Mac King (two Las Vegas headliners with roots in Louisville), Kenny Rogers, Lee Greenwood, Steve Wariner, Ricky Skaggs, Tammy Wynette, Alan Thicke, Bobby Goldsboro, B. J. Thomas, Florence Henderson, Diahann Carroll, McLean Stevenson, Merv Griffin, Eydie Gorme, and Cab Calloway.
WHAS radio and television personality Terry Meiners and WHAS-TV news anchor Shay McAlister are the co-hosts of the Crusade telecast.
The Crusade broadcast goes on through Saturday night and Sunday morning, as is traditional with most telethons, but some of the overnight portion of the show consists of segments taped beforehand.
On radio, stations from the Commonwealth Broadcasting Company group carried the telecast in Bowling Green, Glasgow, Bardstown, Campbellsville, Princeton, Madisonville and Elizabethtown.
This task was originally administered by the panel of The Moral Side of the News,', a long-running public affairs program on WHAS-TV and Radio where local clergy discuss current events.
All overhead costs of the Crusade organization are covered by donations from businesses, and more recently from proceeds of an endowment set up for that purpose.
As part of a plea bargain agreement, the court ordered him to pay full restitution to the WHAS Crusade for Children and sentenced him to 41 months in federal prison without any possibility of an early parole.
